RTÉ ALL-IRELAND DRAMA FESTIVAL WINNERS ANNOUNCED DURING GALA AWARDS STREAMED LIVE ON RTE.IE/CULTURE
PRESS STATEMENT 9TH MAY 2026
Kilmeen Drama Group Hailing from Rossmore, Co. Cork Scoops Top Award in 2026 RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Festival
Kilmeen Drama Group, directed by Denis O’Sullivan, were crowned RTÉ All-Ireland Drama champions for their performance of ‘Ballyturk’ by Enda Walsh at the Gala Awards ceremony in Athlone’s Radisson Blu Hotel on Saturday May 9th 2026 as the curtains came down on the 2026 RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Festival. The festival is held under the auspices of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland (ADCI). The award ceremony was hosted by Nuala Carey and James Patrice.
Bridge Drama, directed by Susan Somers, who performed ‘Things I Know To Be True’ by Andrew Bovell were placed second, while Dalkey Players, directed by Emma Jane Nulty, who performed ‘Sive’ by John B. Keane were placed third.
Mark O’Brien, Executive Director of the Abbey Theatre said that the Abbey was delighted to continue their partnership with the festival. He announced that the winner of the Abbey Award for 2026 was also the Kilmeen Drama Group who presented ‘Ballyturk’ by Enda Walsh, and that the Abbey looked forward to hosting the group in the Peacock at the end of May.
There was great excitement when the results were announced. No strangers to Athlone, Kilmeen Drama Group previously won the All-Ireland a total four times, most recently in 2013. As the saying goes ‘it takes a village’ and many of the cast and crew are 2nd or 3rd generation Kilmeen members. They performed Enda Walsh’s ‘Ballyturk’ , the absurdist, high-energy play that explores the fragility of existence, the nature of memory, and the inevitability of death. Trapped in a small room, two people pass the time by vividly inventing and performing the lives of an imagined town, using storytelling as a means of survival. As the games grow darker, they are forced to confront mortality, authorship, and the unspoken rule that one of them must remain.
Kilmeen director Denis O’Sullivan took home the award for Best Director. In addition, Niamh Power as ‘2’ won the award for best actress, and Crona McCarty, Kilmeen Drama Group won the award for best stage setting.
Other award winners included, Dermot Byrne, Dalkey Players, who took home the best actor award for his role as Thomasheen Sean Rua in ‘Sive’. Sinéad Rafter, Bridge Drama, received the award for the best actress in a supporting role for her portrayal of Rosie Price in ‘Things I Know To Be True’ and Pat Sinnott as Michael (Englishman) in ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me’, Wexford Drama Group. The award for best stage management went to Toni Knowles, ‘WIT’, Corofin Dramatic Society, and the award for best stage lighting went to Mark Redmond, ‘Things I Know To Be True’, Bridge Drama. The Drama League of Ireland (DLI) Summer School Scholarship went to Liam Motherway, Brideview Drama Group, who played Young Charlie in ‘Da’. The Adjudicator’s award went to the creative team of Balally, ‘Heaven’, for set, lights and sound, Susan McHugh, Kris Mooney & Gary Wall.
Festival Director, Michael McGlone, remarked on the very high standards at the 2026 festival. ‘This year’s festival is extra special because thanks to the team in RTÉ our awards ceremony is being live streamed again by RTÉ. This will no doubt open a whole new audience to the ceremony and remind everyone that amateur drama is going from strength to strength’.
Commenting on the winning play ‘Ballyturk’, this year’s adjudicator Padraic McIntyre stated that playwright Enda Walsh had characterised his plays as being about some sort of love and the need for calm and peace. His plays are about routine. He also declared that he likes his plays to exist in an abstract expressionistic world.
Padraic McIntyre is a native of Bailieboro, Co. Cavan and trained as an actor at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. He has an MA in Theatre Studies from DCU. Padraic is currently Venues Manager at Ramor Arts Centre. Previously he was the Artistic Director of the Livin’ Dred Theatre Company. He has written numerous plays including ‘The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down’ which has sold out venues around the country.
The plays featured in this year’s final included several amateur premieres, four by Irish playwrights including two productions of ‘Da’ by Hugh Leonard. 2026 is the centenary of his birth. Four of the finalists hail from Wexford while three are urban groups. While Athlone basked in the sun, the festival audiences were entertained every night. They reported that the festival was of a particularly high standard. The Fringe Festival grew, with record applications for the Athlone Short Film Festival. The Fringe programme was extended with several new offerings including the Après Play which proved very popular with drama lovers.